Since last fall, many rank-and-file union members have been outspoken in their criticism of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks, in which Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,000 people and took about 250 hostages. The leaders of many national unions have appeared more cautious, at times emphasizing the precipitating role of Hamas.
The leaders, who are generally elected, may reflect the views of most of the 10 percent of U.S. workers who belong to unions. But that percentage has been dwindling for decades. By contrast, the portion of the labor movement that has been growing rapidly in recent years — Starbucks baristas, REI workers, graduate students, medical residents — skews young and to the left, precisely the demographic that cares most about the war in Gaza.“Insofar as the new energy is about those young people — and it mostly is — part of what comes with that is Gaza being a high priority,” said Ruth Milkman, a sociologist who studies labor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Members of teachers’ unions have also parted company with their parent union. At the American Federation of Teachers convention this summer, when some members sought to amend the resolution on Gaza so it would call for a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, the convention’s chair did not allow the motion to go forward.
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